Facebook is getting emotional. From today, in addition to liking posts on your news feed, you can also respond with a new set of animated emoji called Reactions: Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry, welcome to Facebook.
The change is to reflect the fact that people use their news feed to share things that are “happy, sad, funny or thought-provoking,” and the Like button isn’t always the most appropriate way to express how you feel. Facebook has been testing the feature in limited markets and receiving feedback from focus groups and usage statistics since last year, but now Reactions are available for everyone.
You’re no longer restricting to just ‘liking’ posts
To add a Reaction to a post from the Facebook app, press and hold the Like button until the emojis appear. You can then tap one to select it or keep your finger on the screen and swipe through them for a closer look. From a computer, just hover over the Like button to reveal the Reactions.
As this is a new feature, you’ll need to make sure the Facebook app has been updated in order to see them, and you may also need to restart the app or refresh your news feed to see the change. Happy reacting!